I’m Ruth Channel 4 review: Kate Winslet stuns as mother of depressed teen

I don’t need to tell you that Kate Winslet is a good actress. Like death and taxes, this is one of the few things we can be sure of. What’s more surprising is that her daughter, Mia Tripleton, can keep up with her emotional load and take blow after blow. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as such a shock ⁠ – Winslet himself is a descendant of Roger Winslet, another actor ⁠ – but the recent “fake kids” debate will lead us to believe that celebrity kids are unworthy of their position, let alone praised. this is .

The couple starred opposite each other in the latest episode of Dominic Savage’s series His Excellency. I An anthology in which each episode tells about a woman going through difficult periods of her life: aging, poverty, powerful partners. I am Ruth was concerned about the constant anxiety of mothers of teenage daughters, especially mothers who spend too much time on the phone.

Freya (Tripleton), a typically rude young woman, and her mother Ruth (Winslet) wreak havoc in the first half of the feature-length drama. It was clear that Ruth just wanted her daughter to be her smiling self again, but disappointment gave way to anger, which led to mistakes – she called Freya’s outfit “slutty” and suggested that she was “embarrassed” to see a psychologist – and yet wild fight.

Winslet and her daughter need to be very confident in their relationship to take on this project together. I am Ruth explores the depths of the complex love between parent and child, and their innate closeness gave Freya and Ruth a certain authenticity. Perhaps they had the same roaring matches to fire.

However, this was not just a case of a gloomy teenager and an overbearing mother, and when Freya was revealed to be deeply depressed, Ruth’s panic about her well-being became apparent. While Freya sat in front of the mirror for hours analyzing her body and posting pictures of herself online, Ruth tried to get her to eat more and give up her phone (which she was clearly addicted to).

The situation came to a head when Freya injured herself, changing the tone of the drama from dull pain to an urgent wake-up call of mental illness. But even when Ruth took Freya to the doctor, she struggled to hand over control to someone else: “But I’m her mother,” she languished.

Mental health problems among British youth are a pressing issue and one in four teens aged 17-19 are now likely to report problems. Such a motif requires a fine hand and great accuracy. Dominic Savage proved that before I The episodes in which he is so adept, and Winslet, who, like other actors who have worked with Savage, helped develop the drama, clearly cares deeply for the spiritual well-being of the country’s young women; The ferocity with which Ruth wants to protect Freya (and probably Winslet wants to protect Mia) permeated the screen.

Such a heavy and important program would seem useless if not for Winslet and Tripleton. I hope the emotional stress of yelling at each other on camera didn’t stop them from working together again.